Aren’t flowers awesome? It’s the end of January which means the start of planting the spring garden. Wyatt-Quarles and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange are the two local seed brands super excited to plant from our local farmer’s market. People love them. The Southern Exposure Seed Exchange has the HEIGHT printed on their seed packets which is super helpful if you like potager style gardens.
It makes you laugh to start pretty seeds when it’s snowing outside. Speaking of cool North Carolina food things, our local Weaver Street Co-op has fantastic fresh baked breads and wheat berries. Their bread miller, Carolina Ground, has come out with a lovely cookbook called aptly Southern Ground by Jennifer Lapidus. They also sell at the local farmer’s markets in RTP and online if you don’t have time to go downtown. As someone who started eating whole bread as part of losing a bunch of weight and getting healthier in the past year and a half, real bread is GREAT for your skin and health. The book is chalk full of beautiful recipes, especially fruits, and a lovely history about different grains.
It is positive combined with some really beautiful runways and red carpets as expected from cotton’s record low prices in 2025. Fashion is having a moment with the Meta Gala May Show “Costume Art.” The embroidery, feathers, sequins, and wow hats are definitely fun to watch. We appreciate European designers hiring costume shops right now. For anyone who is not aware, costume designers can be hired either single to create a small publicity collection of 8-10 looks in 6-8 weeks for $15,000-25,000/labor at the low-end plus 3-4x the number for fabrics/trims say $60,000-125,000 or an atelier team of 7 (6 stitchers and 1 patterncutter) in 2-4 weeks for $20,000-50,000/labor plus materials which normally works out to $100,000-300,000. Most of the budget for larger showers will be the fabric and trims which cotton being down really helps. Still, anyone telling you they ran through a $8-9 million dollar trust fund in 4 years of 8 runway shows has a drug problem, not a fashion one.
Obviously, people should be paid and the prices quoted above are for the technicians, not niche designers and specific made-to-order. Diamonds, sapphires, French silks, etc. as anyone who has worked in bridal can attest…they cost what they cost. Be honest about your budget. Costume staff can be extremely creative provided they still get paid their hourly wage and are used to working on tight deadlines with very little money for supplies.The Meta Gala runs at the same time as the May/June bridal fashion shows so that's going to be EPIC too. It’s really nice to see the industry bounce back with feathers, crystals, and trim plus hats. Remember that many of these beautiful beaded pieces shine with cotton understructure. Keeping an eye out this year for British and French period pieces as masters of that trade.
Margot Robbie continues to nail her fashion tour for Wuthering Heights. That woman is a force of nature. Strawberry parties. Nice.